


Starvation

by LiamLordofTrash



Series: Starvation Series [1]
Category: Team Fortress 2
Genre: Betrayal, Cannibalism, Character Death, How Do I Tag, M/M, Murder, My First AO3 Post
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 03:01:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14463570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LiamLordofTrash/pseuds/LiamLordofTrash
Summary: Everything was normal in the RED base until they found themselves trapped inside it, seemingly permanently. As food supplies run low they find out just what they are willing to do to survive. Probably not the best description, ships are there but take a back burner to the plot. Hope you enjoy!





	1. Chapter 1

It was ridiculously early when Soldier decided it was time for them to get up. Nearly three in the morning. He ran around, yelling like a mad man and demanding all the maggots get up. He was met with a chorus of angry moaning, yelling back, and lots of yawning, excepting Demoman who had stayed up the entire night, drinking. 

“What is wrong with you?” Scout asked, eyes half closed.

“We have to sneak up on those Blus! It’s too early, they won’t be up yet. We can sneak up on ‘em and kill ‘em all!” 

“You know the Blu Soldier is probably doing this too,” Spy noted, trying to drink some coffee. He knew Soldier wasn’t going to drop it. 

“Wait a minute!” yelled Engineer, heading in. “We can’t go out there yet.”

“And why is that?” Soldier asked. “I bet you’re a Blu Spy trying to-”

“The respawn is not working,” Medic added, following Engineer in. 

“Come again?”

“It ain’t workin’,” insisted Engineer. “We’ve been up all night tryin’ to fix it. It ain’t workin’.” 

“How do ya know?” asked Scout.

“We have tested it on the rats,” Medic said. “They have been dead for hours. They are not respawning. The medigun is also not working.” 

“What? Why?”

“I don’t know but we can’t go into battle like this. We’ll get killed. Permanently,” said Medic. 

“Wonder what else in’t workin’,” slurred Demo. They decided to go around, testing things. The board that alerted them to Blus in the base was broken. The control points weren’t working. And it was snowing. 

“Aren’t we in like.. A desert?” asked Scout.

“That we are..” Spy said. 

“See! Global warming doesn’t exist, it’s cold outside,” said Soldier. “Snow is communist propaganda.” 

“Sure it is, buddy,” Demo said, patting his back and taking a drink. They new better than to argue with Soldier about what was and wasn’t communist propaganda. 

“What are we gonna do if they come to us?” Scout asked.

“That would be stupid,” Sniper said. “I’m sure they’ve noticed it too.” 

“I’m going to work to fix the medigun, and Herr Engineer is working on the respawn. Just don’t let anyone in or out of this building,” Medic said. 

 

Staying inside the old building with all the boring old people was driving Scout crazy. He wanted to go outside, throw his ball, bonk some Blus, something,  _ anything.  _ He guessed Sniper would be the most interesting. Engie and Medic were busy- and Medic was boring to begin with. Spy sucked, Heavy just kind of swatted him away, and Pyro was too spaced out to talk to. Demo was always drunk, which would be cool if he’d share any. Soldier was ranting on about the communist snow and calling Medic a fascist Kraut for trying to get his raccoons out of the building a week earlier.  Scout went to look in Snipers room, but saw him in the kitchen. 

“Ey! Sniper, what are you doin’?” Scout asked. 

“Me? Nothin’ much.”

“We gotta find something to doooo,” Scout moaned.

“We could start a book club,” Sniper offered. 

“A  _ book  _ club?” hissed Scout. “I thought you weren’t boring!”

“You know who writes books?” asked Soldier, angrily. 

“Authors?” Sniper said.

“Karl Marx! The daddy of communism! That’s why I don’t read any books.” 

“That would explain some things,” said Spy. “What book would you suggest, Sniper? I’m interested.” 

“Ehhh. We could take a vote.”

“No book!” Scout said, and Soldier joined him.

“Scout’s got the right idea! No books!” 

“I wanna read about pirates,” said Demo.

“Pirates?”

“You wanna read?”

“I feel kinda like pirates sometimes. I got one eye, I drink a lot,” said Demo. “I’m like a Scottish pirate.”

“Pirates would be kinda cool,” Scout relented. “But I still don’t like book club.” 

“Mphrfmph!” Pyro exclaimed. 

“No romance!” hissed Scout.

“No books!” Soldier insisted. 

“What about somethin’ violent,” Sniper suggested.

“Yeah! Violence and pirates!” Scout exclaimed. 

“This looks bad, Doc,” said Engineer. “I don’t think we can actually fix this.” 

“Hopefully the others will keep themselves busy,” Medic said. “The medigun is broken also. I have rebuilt it myself from the bottom up. It just.. Doesn’t work.”

“I’ve done the same with my sentries,” Engie said. “My poor little sentires,” he said, caressing the broken machine. 

“I am worried..”

“‘Bout what?” asked Engie.

“Everyone’s hearts.. They are a strange technology. This could be dangerous to us.. If they fail… I will set up the surgery unit and stock the fridge with hearts, just in case.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll go around and check everything, see what else is goin’.” 

 

“This is not violence and pirates,” Scout said, looking boredly at the book. “This is lame and lame.” The book,  _ In the Heart of the Sea,  _ was about whalers who were definitely not pirates. Also the only thing that had happened that was violent was a whale being gutted and they were like a billion pages in. 

“Shut up,” said Demo. “Things have to set up first.” 

“Look at you,  _ commies,”  _ hissed Soldier, walking by and petting his raccoon, Lieutenant Bites. “Reading books.”

“This sucks, Soldier’s right. Books are for commies.”

“It’s too late now, Scout,” Soldier said. “Once a commie, always a commie.” 

“Jus’ read a little father,” said Sniper. “It’s about to get good, I’ve read this one before.”

“I didn’t know you were so well read,” Spy said. 

“I didn’t know you were such a bitch nerd,” said Scout.

“Readin’ is better than hanging around you lot,” Sniper said. Scout sighed and let himself be roped into reading more. 

 

“Alright, good news first. We have heating, water, and electric still all in, and the security cameras and door locks are still good,” Engineer said.

“Wonderful, what’s the bad news?” asked Medic.

“Nothin’ else is workin’ and we ain’t got contact with anyone on the outside.” 

“Ah. Bad. Very bad. Well, I am prepared for the hearts if they go out,” said Medic. “I would switch your heart now but a genuine heart transplant is much more difficult, painful, and hard to recover from than it is with the medigun. I don’t want to perform any until absolutely necessary.” 

“I understand.” Engineer sat down heavily, slumping his shoulders slightly. “How are we gonna explain this to them?” 

“Doktor!” Heavy called, charging through the halls. 

“Oh dear, what is wrong Misha?” 

“Is snow! Has plugged door! Door cannot open,” he said. 

“The door won’t open?” Engineer asked. “That could be a problem.” 

“A big problem,” muttered Medic.

“Well at least we know the Blus can’t get in… We need to wait before we tell the others,” said Engineer. 

“Oh Christ!” Scout exclaimed. “They didn’t just.. Oh god they’re eatin’ him. Oh shit. Man I wanted like someone to get hit with somethin’,” said Scout.

“Who’s the bitch now?” Sniper laughed. The group in the book had been stranded in their boat for like ten billion years and decided to eat a guy by drawing sticks. They all took sticks and the dude with the littlest stick got eaten. Scout was grossed out, Spy and Sniper were laughing, and Demo was drinking. Pyro had given up on their book to go read some of their gross romance books. Scout was trying to figure if the book he was reading or Pyro’s would be worse. He decided to stick with it in hope of some different types of violence. Cool violence. 

“It’s getting cold,” Spy said. 

“Alright, keep goin’ without me,” said Sniper. “I’ll get everyone some coffee and some blankets.”  About half the group thanked him and some of the others didn’t care. They continued on and Scout was starting to worry that there wasn’t going to be any cool violence. He sighed and kept going. He kinda wanted to make sure the coolest guy didn’t get eaten. Demo said he was the main character so he’d live for sure but Scout didn’t trust it. 

 

The snow was stuck but Heavy could break through the door. However, the snow was too thick for them to actually get through. They tried digging for a while, but it wasn’t working as the snow just kept falling in. They had to relent and go inside. 

“What can we do?” asked Engineer.

“Do not know.”

“I was just talkin’ out loud,” said Engineer, “Sorry ‘bout that.” 

“We need to find a way out of here…” 

“Perhaps… Do you think Pyro could burn some of it out of the way?” asked Medic. 

“Maybe but that would mean telling Pyro about the snow… Can we be sure Pyro won’t tell the others? How can we convince them to not tell them about this? Pyro doesn’t get secrets very well,” said Engineer. 

“Demo can run flamethrower, Da?” asked Heavy. 

“I think you’re right, my Liebling,” said Medic. “And he can probably keep his mouth closed.” 

 

Demo was dragged away from book club because Medic was worried that his liver might fail. Scout wished his liver was failing. Wait no. Well kind of. The book kept going between super boring dudes starving to cannibalism. It sucked. At least he had a blanket. 

“Dude somebody turn up the heat we’re freezing to death here.” 

“I’m not getting up,” said Sniper.

“You’re not even sitting down,” said Scout. Sniper sat down.

“I’m not getting up,” he repeated.

“I hate you.” 

“I will do it,” Spy sighed. He got up gradually and walked over to the thermostat, dramatically. He looked like every step was killing him because like the others he didn’t actually want to move. 

“Mphfr Mphfrph Sphfy?” asked Pyro.

“He’s fine,” Scout said.

“No, he’s got a terminal case of being a little bitch,” Sniper said.

“Don’t say that,” Spy said. “Last time Scout said something like that it took Medic three weeks to convince Soldier I wasn’t dying.” 

“That’s because even though he’s stupid he knows you’re a little bitch,” Scout said. 

“Spy has little bitch again?!” yelped Soldier. He ran off. “Medic!” 

“Oh Christ.” 

“Medic’s gonna snap and shoot this place up some day, mark my words,” said Sniper. 

“Sometimes I look forwards to that day,” Spy said. 

“Come on losers let’s finish this stupid book.”

“Never seen you excited to read.”

“I gotta see if the cool guy dies.” 

 

“Medic!” Soldier yelled. “Medic!” He charged through the halls. He had to find the doctor quickly- Spy was a frenchie and they gave up quickly meaning he’d die soon of his terminal bitchiness. Scout probably had the bitch too, but he was an American so he’d last longer. He charged through the building and found Demo, Engineer, Medic, and Heavy trying to burn snow with Pyro’s flamethrower. “What.. are you doing?”

“Uh.. Getting rid of the communist snow,” Engineer said. 

“Oh… But why is the commie helping you?” asked Soldier, glaring at Heavy. Heavy was a Russian and Russians were communists and snow was communist and there was snow in Russia so… Soldier lost his train of thought.  

“It’s to uh.. Teach ‘im a lesson about communism is bad and shite,” Demo said, taking a drink. “It’s a metaphor and shit.”

“Who is metaphor?”

“A metaphor is a figure of speech,” began Medic.

“Shut up, fascist! Don’t tell me what I know,” Soldier barked. He had no idea what a metaphor was but he wasn’t about to let some Nazi know that. He would ask an American later. “But, Uh, I’m here because Spy is dying of little bitch again.” 

“Little bitch is not a physical or mental disorder or illness of any type,” said Medic. “I have told you this before, Herr Soldier.”

“He’s right, Solly,” said Engineer. “It is not. He’s not lying to you.” 

“Hmmm…” Soldier said. Engineer was an American, and a Southerner too. They were very loyal and patriotic. Would he have any reason to lie for the Nazi..? No…  Fine. Then he guessed little bitch was not a disease. “I know I came for something else too….”

“No you didn’t,” said Engineer. Engineer could be trusted. Soldier walked back to watch the commies and their book club. 

“Hello commies,” said Soldier. They had lied to him about something but he couldn’t remember what. It would be fine. He could talk to his battalion later. 

“We are not communists,” Spy said, rolling his eyes.  They lied. He knew that. He had been told that books were for communists. He walked back to his room, looking around. He found his battalion waiting for him. He had his second in command, a stuffed bald eagle named Uncle Sam, his loyal shovel, his clever riding crop, and lastly his three little helmets. They were the same size as his other helmet, but they were that helmet’s children so they were little. 

“Did you tell them that they were book reading commies?” asked Uncle Sam.

“Of course I did… They won’t listen, but fortunately Engie, Demo, and Medic are destroying the communist snow and teaching the big Russian commie that it’s bad.”

“Engineer.. Trustworthy.. Demoman.. Sometimes,” said his riding crop. “But that Kraut bastard? He and the communist are together- they’re an alliance.” 

“I mean, yeah, but I have a plan,” he said. “About that… Also Engie is around Medic with their science stuff.. I think he’s turning him the right way.”

“How do we know the Nazi isn’t corrupting Engie?” asked the smallest little helmet. 

“Shush,” said Soldier’s helmet. “Engineer is a southerner- he’s trustworthy and he’ll turn Fritz.”

“And if Fritz is turned then his big boyfriend will go too!” Soldier said. “See, Helmet and me have this covered.” 

“I would still be wary,” Shovel said. 

“I always am” Soldier said. “That’s why I was concerned about their book club.” 

“We trust you,” the others said. 

 

The snow hadn’t cleared up by night, and they had failed to get through it. They were forced to give up for the night as Demo passed out on the floor. Engineer decided to go and tell the others to go to sleep. Medic and Heavy helped Demo up and guided him to his room. If he passed out on the floor from their it wasn’t their problem. They walked back to their room. Technically it was Heavy’s, but staying in Heavy’s room meant they were safe from Scout knocking on the door for something stupid because he always expected Medic to be in the medbay. Heavy went to tuck in Sasha and by the time he got back Medic was already in both his shirt and his bed. 

“Well hello little Doktor,” said Heavy, crawling into the bed. He lifted Medic up and held him close. 

“What are you doing Misha?”

“Is cold. Must protect Doktor.” 

“Aww, Misha,” Medic said, kissing his chin. “I love you.” 

“I love you too Doktor,” he said, kissing Medic back, tilting up his head and pressing their lips together. Medic adjusted, sitting in Heavy’s lap. 

“Do you think the others could hear if..?”

 

Engineer informed everyone they should probably get some damn sleep. Scout was alright with that, except that it would mean that for at least two days in his life he would have to be in a book club which titled him towards the bitch nerd category more than he was comfortable with. They all headed off to bed, Scout trying to mark the page they were on by folding the whole thing in half. 

“What is wrong with you?” Spy asked, when he noticed it.

“I’m not losing my page.” 

 

They were trying to eat breakfast; Sniper taking only coffee, Medic and Heavy eating biscuits, Spy having some strange French dessert, Engineer making eggs, Scout stealing some of Engineer’s eggs, Pyro eating some incredibly burnt toast, Demo drinking, and Soldier eating a raw egg. 

“Snow’s still there,” said Demo loudly, and suddenly. Scout jumped a little. 

“What is with that? There’s so much damn snow,” Scout said. “We’re in a friggin’ desert.” 

“There’s so much snow we’re actually trapped inside,” Engie said.

“We’re trapped?”

“For now. Snow melts. Will be fine,” Heavy said. 

“Alright.”

“Hopefully it won’t come to it,” Engineer said. “But if we’re not able to get any food shipments we’ll be in trouble. I think we should start bein’ a little more careful with food.” Everyone gradually agreed with it, and ate a little slower. Scout got chills just thinking about it. Why did they have to read  _ that  _ book? He sighed, deciding that maybe it would be best not to read that book while they had to worry about food rations. 


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a few weeks, Scout figured. He had decided to take up the book again. Their little book club was back. They couldn’t leave the building. They hadn’t in weeks, Scout figured. He sighed. He was going crazy. He had talked to the others but they could only talk so much about things. It sucked. The conversations sucked. There were only so many interesting things they could really talk about. Scout was pretty sure he was getting thinner. He knew the food rations were getting smaller, but it was hard to measure and the days blurred together.

Engineer was trying to figure out something when the water stopped working. He started to search around trying to find the issue, but unfortunately the problem was the pipes being frozen. He couldn’t fix the frozen pipes, which meant they wouldn’t have water. He decided to tell the others immediately.  
“What if we eat the snow?” asked Soldier. “That’s like hard water.”  
“Okay, we can’t just eat it but that’s not a bad idea,” Engineer said.  
“See? I’m smart,” Soldier said to no one.  
“Of course you are,” Demo said, drinking. Engineer walked to the door and pulled. It was frozen shut and he couldn’t open it.  
“What’s wrong?”  
“It’s uh.. Stuck.” Soldier walked forwards and yanked on it, then Demo tried to help him. The door was stuck shut. Eventually Heavy walked forwards, moving to the door and pulling it right off its hinges.  
“Was not stuck enough,” Heavy said. They started to scoop the snow. Engineer decided if they boiled it then let it cool it would be safely edible and Medic agreed. Engineer and Spy started to boil water.  
“We’re running out of food,” said Soldier softly.  
“Yeah,” Sniper said. “We are.”

Some day, the food had just stopped. No one was sure as to when but it had. They raided everything that they could, searching through every last room. There was nothing, not anymore. Demo still had alcohol, but it wasn’t food. It didn’t help. It hurt him in fact, but no one would argue with him. No one had the energy.  
“We’re gonna starve,” Scout said, nervously. His mind went back to that book. Oh god, he was the smallest and the weakest, wasn’t he? If they were gonna eat anybody.. Well maybe Engineer, he was shorter and meatier.  
“We’re starving right now,” said Spy. “We haven’t eaten in… A week. I think.” Medic mumbled something, and Pyro seemed to understand it.  
“I can count the bones in my neck,” Sniper said. “Doc how many’s supposed to be there?”  
“The birds,” said Medic, a little more forcefully.  
“That’s not a number.”  
“We can eat… you.. You can eat the birds,” Medic said, shoulder slumped forwards. They sat there silently.  
“What?” Demo asked.  
“My doves,” Medic said. “For survival you can.. You can eat my doves.” He sounded like he was nearly crying.  
“Doktor are you sure-” Heavy began.  
“No, just do it. We’re starving, just go and do it before I can try to stop you,” Medic said. Spy, Sniper, Scout, and Demo headed down the hall towards the medbay.  
“Wait,” said Spy, “We should only kill one.”  
“Why?”  
“The others will stay fresh while they are alive. Otherwise we’re wasting food.”  
“What have the doves even been eating?” Sniper asked.  
“Human organs in the medbay for the most part,” said Spy. “I have used my cloaker to check in on others. I have seen things that make me regret this but it is too late.”  
“Ugh.. Yeah we can’t exactly eat that,” Scout said, poking what he guessed was a spoiled liver. The surgery bay itself looked horrific, and untouched, but Spy had figured out that Medic hadn’t slept there for weeks, but instead stayed close to Heavy. They managed to catch one of the more tame birds, taking care to make sure it wasn’t Archimedes. Spy caught Archimedes, and they took him to Heavy’s room so that Medic would know.  
“Let’s not kill it in the kitchen if he’s still there,” said Sniper.  
“I’ll run ahead and tell Heavy to get him out of there. He can go to Heavy’s room and hold Archimedes or something.” Scout ran off.

The one bird wasn’t enough to feed the whole group, so they got another. They thought that everyone had eaten, but there was an extra plate.  
“What is…?”  
“Doktor is not here,” said Heavy. They looked around. Heavy was right. Heavy picked up the food and Scout, Sniper, and Demo followed him. The others stayed back at the table. “Doktor?” called Heavy. He handed the food to Sniper. “Be useful.”  
“Sure.” Heavy pushed the door open and they walked in, Sniper following him in and Demo holding Scout back outside of the door. Heavy and Sniper moved in slowly. The lights were off and Sniper couldn’t distinguish Medic from anything around him. Heavy pressed his hand gently to Medic’s back.  
“Doktor?” asked Heavy gently.  
“Go away,” Medic said, trying to sound angry but he was much too close to tears.  
“Ludwig,” Heavy said softly, sitting by him.  
“Get!” he hissed, swatting at Heavy. Heavy caught his hand gently.  
“Doktor please,” he said. “You have to eat. I know you don’t want-”  
“I won’t!” he hissed. “I won’t eat my birds!”  
“Why did you let us then?” asked Scout.  
“Shut up,” Demo hissed.  
“You are my team,” he said. “It is my job to make sure you’re healthy.” Demo pulled Scout further out of the room as he began to interject. Sniper sighed and just stood there.  
“You are my Dorogoi,” said Heavy. “Is my job to make sure you are healthy.” Heavy took the plate from Sniper, smiling softly. Sniper got the message. Thank you. Heavy put the plate in front of Medic. “You must eat.”  
“I can’t do it,” he said. “I raised them from little chicks and I can’t-” Sniper moved away quietly, but stayed by the door. Heavy gently lifted Medic’s head, kissing his lips gently. He pulled away, and took a fork full of the dove meat. Heavy gently pushed open Medic’s mouth and tried to feed him. He wriggled away, and Heavy caught him, pushing him to the chair with one hand. With a little more force he pushed Medic’s mouth open and pushed the bird meat in. He held Medic’s mouth shut and pinched his nose shut. Sniper left Heavy to force feed Medic.

It had to have been months. They had eaten all the doves. Medic had nearly cried when they had to eat Archimedes. Then rifled for eggs. They were starting to stay away from each other, isolating off. Scout stuck around Pyro and Sniper, who isolated himself a little further. Soldier and Demo stuck together. Heavy and Medic stayed close together. Engie and Spy sort of isolated themselves, but both also drifted between other groups. They had nothing to eat. Everyone was growing desperate as each teammate’s ribs became countable.  
It had been two and a half weeks since they had a normal meal, and over three weeks since the snow had come, trapping them deep inside the fortress. The team had started to stay away from each other more and more, some isolating themselves entirely and others grouping up. They all came at the same time of day for water though. They needed it. When they got water was whenever Heavy and Medic got thirsty, as the pair stayed together and Heavy was the only one strong enough to pull the door back from the ice so that they could get to it to drink. They could hear the medbay opening as they left or hear Heavy walking. Heavy was starting to lose weight though, quickly. He tried to convince the others for a long time that he didn’t need to eat as much because he had weight to spare. The others figured he was still trying to feed Medic more than himself. They could hear the pair fight about it, Medic insisting they eat the same and Heavy trying to force feed him. Medic seemed to be winning. That day, Spy was already waiting for them all, holding a thick book in his hand. Scout recognized that book. Demo recognized that book. Sniper recognized that book. It was a dark omen.  
“Whatta ya want Spook?” hissed Sniper.  
“I am waiting for everyone to get here.” They waited, and eventually everyone arrived, still half starved and deeply tired. They all looked a little dead. “Gentlemen… We have no food. We cannot survive much longer, yes, Doctor?”  
“Well uh.. Ja, but why are-”  
“I am sorry to suggest this but…” he threw the book down. The title was The Heart of the Sea. “In this book, there are men in a similar situation to ours,but on the ocean. The idea that comes from this book is-”  
“Oh bloody hell this is awful- we aren’t doin’ that mate,” Sniper insisted.  
“What is it?” Heavy asked.  
“Everybody draws straws- shortest straw gets eaten,” Sniper said. “I’ll leave if you say another thing about it- I can go days without water.”  
“It’s needed for our survival,” insisted Spy. There was a long pause.  
“No one has starved yet,” Heavy insisted.  
“Yet. Are we waiting? Who has to die before we go? If I draw the short straw I will happily die myself,” Spy insisted. “No complaining. This is for the survival of the many.”  
“Why do you care so much about us suddenly?”  
“You.. You are… We need to do this for survival-”  
“Sounds fake.”  
“I want one of us to live at least damnit!” snarled Spy. “I want someone to live, no matter who it is! One of us must. I refuse to let us all die in vain for the sake of sanity.” Pyro said something muffled, along the lines of pleading for no one to die. “We do not have choices any longer.” There was a distinct pause.  
“We can’t bloody… We’ve got time, ‘aven’t we, Doc?”  
“Well… No. At best we have days before we begin to die, at worst someone will go today.” There was a distinct pause.  
“I saw we give it a try,” Engineer said. Everyone who wasn’t already on board with cannibalism looked at him, shocked. He was the reasonable one- the most sane of them all. But no. He agreed with murder.  
“But.. can’t we get dead from eating corpses?” said Soldier.  
“Uh, no. You can however get ill from eating the brains of another human- it’s similar to the human equivalent of mad cow disease,” Medic informed them weirdly happily.  
“So we.. can eat people?” asked Soldier.  
“I’m not sure we should tell him that’s it’s okay to eat people,” said Scout.  
“Lads… What if we take a headcount?” asked Demo. “Like.. We raise our hands, and whichever side has the most hands we go.”  
“But first we must agree that whatever happens we go with what the hands say.”  
“Yes! Like a proper democracy,” Soldier said proudly.  
“‘Course it’s my idea,” Demo agreed.  
“Ja,” added Medic.  
“Da,” Heavy said, likely because Medic had agreed.  
“I.. Sure,” said Scout. “Alright.”  
“Oui,” Spy agreed. He clearly wanted it to go his way.  
“Mphf!” Pyro added.  
“Yeah,” Engie said.  
“Alright..” Sniper said warily.  
“All in favor, raise your hand,” said Spy. Spy, Medic, Engie, Soldier, and Demo raised their hands. There was a moment of silence.  
“Doktor,” Heavy said softly.  
“Nein, I’m not changing my mind.”  
“Please-”  
“Engie what the hell is wrong with you?” Scout asked. “What’s wrong with all of you?”  
“You’ve been outnumbered maggots!” Soldier exclaimed. There was a long pause.  
“We did agree to go with the majority,” Sniper said. “I just wasn’t expecting so many of us to be sick fucks.”  
“Look, I just don’t want everyone ta die,” Demo said. Spy pulled his revolver from his jacket.

“Whoever gets the short straw shall… well.. After they are done,” he said, gesturing to the gun. “The rest of us will..” Even Spy was having trouble saying it. He then pulled out the nine straws of different lengths. He put them in his hand, sticking them all out at the same length. “I will have whichever you all leave,” Spy said. Everyone took a deep breath and gradually took their straws, hands shaking. They started to compare their straws.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This whole fic was pre-written so the whole thing will come out today.


	3. Chapter 3

“Oh God.” Engie looked down at his stick, which was by far the smallest. The room was so quiet you could hear him swallow.

“Wanna go back on this now, don’tcha?” asked Sniper. There was a pause.

“No,” said Engie, “I’ve made my choice.” He stood up, placed his straw on the table and took Spy’s revolver.

“Laborer-” Spy began.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it, I know what to do,” said Engie, letting out a pained breath.

“Mphe mphfofe mphou,” Pyro mumbled, moving to hug him.

“Aw Pyro.. I.. I love ya’ll too,” he said, voice cracking gradually. He hugged Pyro. “Don’t let Pyro see none of this, you here?”

“Of course,” Spy said.  For whatever reason he seemed to have decided himself the leader in the endeavors of cannibalism. Most of the others felt a slight relief about this,  not having to take initiative themselves. Engineer walked out of the room and no one said anything. No one knew what to say. Normally Scout at least would have something, some quip or some stupid joke. But there was nothing. No break from what seemed like an inturnity of silence before they heard a single loud gunshot. None of them flinched at gun shots, not anymore. But this, this was different. Everyone flinched.

“Oh.. Oh God,” Scout said, finally breaking the silence. “Someone’s gotta.. Ya know… Cut him up.”

“Medic’s used to cuttin’ us up,” Sniper hissed.

“This is  _ different,”  _ Medic snaped back.

“Sniper has a point.. You know what parts we can eat ‘an such.. Might be best if ya… Ya know,” Demo added. Medc opened his mouth, preparing to argue, but gave up halfway through.

“Fine.. Spy help me,” Medic said.

“What? Why me-”

“This whole thing was your idea!”

“You agreed to it!” Spy snapped back. “If even one person on our side had changed their mind this wouldn’t have happened. This is your fault as much as mine!”

“Cannot blame each other,” Heavy interjected. “Was sacrifice for team. Heavy will help.”

“Doc’s right though, it was spook’s bloody idea,” Sniper added.

“I.. I have to get my bonesaw,” Medic said, leaving the room.

“We cannot blame each other,” Heavy insisted. “Will go crazy. Will only hurt each other.”

“As if we hadn’t already!” snapped Scout. “Engie’s fuckin’ dead!”

“It was this or all of us,” Soldier said.

“He agreed to it also,” Demo said.

“Stop trying to justify this fuckin’ murder!” hissed Sniper. “Just stop it!” Medic silently walked through, bone saw in hand. Heavy followed him to where Engie had gone. Pyro said something, but it was ignored.

“It ain’t murder! He agreed!” Demo snapthe in eped.

“He never woulda done that if it weren’t for you!” Scout yelled. “This neva would've happened!”

             “ Man up Scout!” yelled Solder.

             “ Man up!? What's manly about murdering our friends? Nothing!” There was a heavy  _ crunch  _ noise and they cringed. The hacking noises continued and they could hear a gag as Heavy nearly ran out of the room. They listened to the soft noise of the bone saw cutting back and forth through the corpse of their friend. A thin line of blood started to trickle out from under the door. Scout cried out and jumped, the blood nearly touching him.

“Spy! Get a bag! You’re helping me cook!”

The table used to be a place where they talked and laughed and harassed each other. Instead they sat and picked at their food and tried not to gag. It took a long time and a lot of bickering to convince some of the others. Scout kept around the edges, hostile look in his eyes mingled with tears. He occasionally bounced his ball off the backs of the heads of those who voted ‘Yes’. Demo took it silently, nose plugged as he refused to smell the burnt hair and skin. Spy deflected it and nearly hit him back. Soldier ate it as if nothing was wrong and his helmet averted Scout’s ball. Sniper sat on a counter opposed to the table. Heavy sat close to Medic and would try to block Scout’s attacks. Pyro was still refusing to eat. The others tried to convince them for a moment. 

“It’s a waste to have already done this and not eat.”

“You’ll die if you don’t- you think he just wanted to die for the sake of it? No! Now eat up,” Soldier demanded.

“Fuck you! You think he wanted to die?” snapped Scout. Spy, Soldier, Scout, and Sniper bickered and almost got to physical altercation but Demo would stop eating to stop them. Pyro would eat a piece, get close to tears, and then try again. Heavy and Medic sat silently in the corner, eating slowly. Medic’s chin touched his chest as he looked down, eyes open and wide but completely unseeing.  Demo shoved Scout and Soldier back down, then sat back down. There was a long silence. 

“I.. I gotta know.. Doc, you think we’ll ever have to do this again?”

“What? Nein- we’ll get food- the snow will melt,” Medic said, jolting up once spoken too.

“I hope you’re right.”

It had been a week and the snow hadn’t melted. Of course, no one was near starvation again yet, but Medic felt like he had lied to the others, felt as if somehow it was his fault that the snow hadn’t melted. He sighed and went about cleaning out old bird nests in his office. Of course, the doves had been gone for a long time, but he decided to get rid of the nests. It still stung to look at them. He missed his birds, he missed Engineer more, and he wished everything could just go back to normal. Why did he say yes? He could have swayed it- any one of them could have swayed it. He sighed. It didn’t matter. It was too late now. If they had a revote maybe…. But they probably wouldn’t. It was probably too late. He shook his head and went back to the nests. 

He got a ladder and climbed up to get rid of the nest that had once belonged to Archimedes. He remembered when he’d tried to refuse to eat the birds- though he had allowed the others to do it he told Heavy he just couldn’t do it himself. Of course, Heavy made him eat anyways. He almost laughed to himself, thinking about that. Before the starvation had set in, before each teammates’ ribs could be counted, before the snow seemed like it would never melt. He reached back for the nest and felt the ladder under him jolt, and he fell to the floor hard. His leg crunched under him, and he cried out, trying to grab onto something. He tried to get up, but quickly noticed that his leg was very, very broken.  The bone jabbed out from the wound. All the skin around it was a chalky white. His whole body shook and he couldn’t feel the pain. It was shock, he knew that. It would hurt soon. He could already start to feel it. He needed to get up. No, he couldn’t. He needed help. 

“Oh Gott… Herr Heavy!” he called. “Heavy!” He heard the distinct footsteps of Heavy as he ran to help. 

“What is wrong?” called Heavy, walking in. 

“Come here, bitte,” Medic said. Heavy walked to him and tried to help him up. “No, I can’t get up, Heavy, my leg is broken.” 

“Leg?” Heavy looked at the leg, which was bent nearly completely, his toes pressed firmly against his knee. “How did this happen!?”

“Heavy, quiet, please.”

“Sorry,” Heavy said. “Didn’t know we needed to be quiet.”

“I.. I need you to put my leg back in place, alright?”

“What?”

“We need to fix this-”

“I don’t want to hurt Doktor-”

“You’ll be saving me in the long run.”

“How is breaking little leg back into place saving you?” asked Heavy.

“Heavy.. A broken limb puts me in a bad place. I am less likely to survive this way, so it would make more sense for me.. Well.. To be  _ after _ Herr Engineer, if you understand.”

“I will kill them if they try!” snapped Heavy.

“Heavy, no, we don’t need to. We can fix this leg,” said Medic. “Take hold of it here.”

“By your ankle?”

“Yes, please. Alright, now pull. Hard.” Heavy yanked it, and there was a sick crunch and Medic bit down on his hand to stay quiet. 

“Am so sorry- are you alright?” asked Heavy. 

“It’s alright. We just have to make sure none of them know about this.. Go and get some gause. I am going to wrap it. We will fix this.” 

 

Sniper sat in his room, watching and listening. He had a theory, but he had no proof. He wanted proof. Which meant he had to spy on them a bit. Speaking of spies, that of course was who he watched. He watched Spy and everyone he talked to as best he could. Spy was constantly proving him right- trying to convince everyone to his side. Gain their loyalties. He wanted control, didn’t he? Control of the food, the strength, the water. Everything.  He was talking to Soldier then. It made sense. Soldier was a danger, difficult to control. 

“Look, Soldier, I need to be sure that-”

“Spy, I haven’t been able to sleep since that day. I was trying to reason with this since we did it. I.. You know Spy, I’m not a smart man-”

“You don’t say,” Spy muttered.

“But I always thought that I could tell one thing- what’s right and what’s wrong. And I was wrong,” he said. “You can’t tell me you don’t feel bad about that too. He’s.. He was our friend. I miss him so much. I keep going to his room hoping it was another one of those things that Medic said that one time about when the raccoons were talking to me and told me to fight the-”

“Soldier I am not asking you to do it again now, I am asking for you to stay with our group. Sniper is.. Worrying me. I think that he’s going to plan some sort of rebellion- to attack us or something.” Spook was after him? That was news. He hadn’t tried to turn them against him yet. He sat silently, relying on Soldier not being so easily fooled. Damnit. He was screwed. 

“Sniper’s not a traitor,” Soldier said. “I’ve been studying them, you see, and the most  likely person to betray us is Heavy because he’s a Communist-”

“Well.. What if Sniper is a secret communist?” Soldier gasped. Sniper was astounded by the stupidity of that man some times.

“A secret communist? That exists?”

“Yes, there are secret communists.”

“What if you’re a secret communist!? What if Scout’s a secret communist!? What if I’m a secret communist?!” Soldier began to panic.

“No, Soldier, you would know if you were a communist.”

“Oh, good... But how do I know if others are communists?” 

“Oh God, never mind,” hissed Spy. Sniper almost wanted to laugh, but if he was right it meant Soldier could be in danger. 

 


	4. Chapter 4

Things were going horribly. It seemed the winter would never end, and nearly four weeks had passed since Engineer’s death. They were near starvation again, and again as they went for water Spy waited with the straws in hand. Engineer’s straw had never moved from its place on the table, but with only eight people they wouldn’t need it. For days it had been a stark reminder of the horrible things that they had done. There was resistance, of course, but it was weakened by hunger.   
“We can wait another day or two,” Scout insisted.   
“We shouldn’t. We will be too weak,” Spy said.   
“Let’s just get it over with.” They gathered around the table. Spy had apparently brought his gun out of the room where Engineer died. They walked to the table, moving slowly. They took straws, much slower, fear and pain overwhelming the ache of hunger. They began to compare straws.   
“I.. Alright,” Soldier said, straightening his back. He took the gun. “It’s been an honor serving with you all.”   
“Jane- no,” Demo insisted.   
“I agreed to this-” Soldier began to argue.  
“I don’t care-” Demo said. “You’re my best mate, I won’t let you-”  
“No, Tavish-” insisted Soldier. “This is my duty.”  
“I’ll do it-” Demo said, snatching his straw.  
“No you won’t!” insisted Soldier, taking the straw back. “This is my burden to bear.If it means keeping you all alive… It’s worth it to me. Just tell Zhanza that I love her.” Soldier saluted them and for the first time they all saluted him back. Pyro hugged him. He walked into the other room. They stopped, moving and breathing. They only had to wait a moment for the gunfire though, all flinching again. Medic and Heavy went to the room shortly after. The bone saw had been left in there. Medic and Heavy hugged close together. It somewhat looked like Medic was leaning on Heavy. Some of them noticed it, Spy and Sniper. Demo’s eye was clouded with tears as he drank and threw the straws and cursed. Scout’s head hung low, Pyro was hunched over in a corner. 

They ate silently, this time. No one argued. They ate and no one fought against it anymore. Then, a sudden jarring noise made them all look up. Scout was laughing.  
“Wot’s wrong with ya lad?” demanded Demo.   
“It’s just funny to me the only ones getting screwed by this are the ones who were alright with it.”   
“I hope it’s you next,” hissed Demo.   
“I hope there’s not a next,” Spy said. “I hope this stupid fucking snow melts and we can get out of here and stop eating people-”  
“You brought it up!” snapped Sniper, standing up. “You did this! You brought this on us!”   
“It wasn’t just him,” Medic said, calmly. “It’s my fault too. Just one more no would have been enough-”  
“Oh don’t think we’ve forgotten about you,” Scout said, quietly angrily. “Which one of these three’s next Snipes? Wanna bet?”   
“They’re won’t be another,” Sniper said. “I’m not doin’ that, it’s sick.”   
“These three-” Scout began.  
“Shut your stupid little mouth,” Heavy snapped, slamming his fist on the table. “We cannot blame each other or we will go mad and kill each other. Seen it happen.”   
“When?”  
“Siberia. Bad winter like this.”   
“It’s not even winter anymore, can’t be,” Scout said. “It’s been months.”   
“It’s devine punishment,” Demo said. “That’s what this is.”   
“I would say it’s from hell but…”  
“Trust me, been to gulag,” said Heavy, “Hell is cold.” 

Sniper had to tell someone. He didn’t know who he could trust really. He had figured out who Spy would be after next. He decided that Pyro was too innocent, wouldn’t understand why Spy would need to be lied too. He had no chance of getting Heavy away from Medic. So Scout and Demo it would be. Demoman had initially agreed with Spy, sure, but he seemed to regret that more and more every day. Demoman and Soldier had been very close friends, and Demo had barely said a word since then. He had started drinking the last bits of alcohol he was hoarding so he could get drunk later, and rumor had it he had tried to get rubbing alcohol from Medic, who fortunately denied his request. Scout, of course, had struggled against it the whole time, like Sniper. Those two were his best bet.   
“Look, boys, we need to talk,” Sniper said, taking them back to a room that he figured was far enough away from the others that they wouldn’t hear.   
“What’s goin’ on?” asked Scout.   
“Look, lads, I had a theory, and I think it’s right.”  
“What?”  
“Spy is cheating with the sticks.”  
“What? How?” Demo asked.  
“Alright, so he always holds them, right?”  
“Yeah?”  
“Look, Spook wants power, so he’s getting rid of everyone he can’t control. Who did we used to listen to? Who was our voice of reason?”  
“Engineer,” Scout said solemnly.   
“So he gets rid of our first possible leader.”  
“Soldier would be an awful leader-”  
“Yeah, he would, wait a minute lad. Soldier is uncontrollable, Spy realized that. With Soldier still in the way he had no chance of controlling us all. I saw them talking, and Spy was trying to secure his loyalty and he gave up. Then Soldier died. Look, boys, here’s how I’m figuring who’s next. He got rid of the danger to his leadership, then the danger to his control. Now who do we know for a fact could kick the shit out of Spy?”  
“Heavy,” Demo said.   
“Exactly.”  
“So he’ll kill Heavy next?” Scout asked.  
“No,” Sniper said. “Heavy could be useful if he’s on Spy’s side, but Heavy won’t listen to Spy. You know why?”  
“Because Spy is a twat?” Demo said.  
“No. Because he listens to Medic.”  
“Are you bleeding kiddin me?” Demo laughed. “Heavy’d kill us all if we laid a finger on his lil’ boyfriend.”   
“Yeah but has danger ever stopped Spook before? And ‘sides, Medic already agreed to the whole thing and probably wouldn’t let Heavy attack us.”  
“I think.. I think you’re right,” Scout said.   
“How’s he even cheat them sticks? You know that?”  
“No, but he’s Spook! Is he ever not cheating?” Sniper said.  
“I mean he’s got a point,” Scout added.   
“You boys mark my words- Medic will draw the short straw this go round.” 

Demo probably could have figured out what doing it would cause, but he had to. He knew it would end up badly, he knew someone would die if he did but he wasn’t sure he cared.After all, it was Spy on the line. He wasn’t sure who had picked the book but he was pretty sure Spy had rigged it somehow, to get the idea deep in their heads, so they’d submit to it- so they’d tear eachother apart. He knocked on the door of the medbay, and Heavy greeted him, trying to wedge his shoulder in the way of Demo and the door. Demo knew immediately he was hiding something, but he had been drunk enough to slam in there abruptly a few times before and seen some stuff that made him wish he didn’t have the one eye he did, so he didn’t question it out of fear of walking in on them in the middle of something again.   
“Heavy, I gotta tell you somethin’.”  
“What is it?” Heavy asked.  
“Sniper’s got a theory that Spy is cheating the stick system and eliminating people in the way to ‘is rise to power and Sniper thinks that his next target is Medic.”   
“Sniper thinks Doktor’s life is in danger and did not tell me himself?”   
“Sniper don’t think Medic’ll believe ‘im,” Demo said. “And you’re always with Medic. He told me and Scout because he knew we’d believe it, I guess.”   
“Am not sure I believe you. But I will do anything I can to protect Doktor. Thank you for telling me,” Heavy said. “But why would little Spy want to kill Medic?”  
“Well Spy wants control and power- this is Snipes’ theory- so he killed Engie because we listen to him and then got rid of Solly because Solly wouldn’t listen to him and now he wants to kill off Medic because Medic kind of uh.. Well you listen to him and Spy wants to control you so he’s gotta get rid of Medic.. Honestly I don’t know why Spook wouldn’ta already gone in with a cloaker or somethin’ and killed Medic to make it look accident-like but it’s Sniper’s theory.” Demo saw something in Heavy’s eyes that night that he hoped deeply was aimed at Spy and not him. Demo didn’t want to die. 

Heavy went to Medic’s side. It was best if he stayed off his leg, it was already healing wrong. Heavy held his hand gently.   
“Doktor.. Sniper and Demo think that Spy wants to kill you,” said Heavy.  
“What?” Heavy explained it all to him, as close to exactly what Demo had said as possible. “Kill me to make it look like an accident,” Medic repeated. “Heavy… I have climbed up and down that later near daily for years… How many times have I slipped off it before?” Heavy paused for a moment.  
“Never.”  
“Then.. is it not more likely that perhaps instead of slipping, I was pushed?”  
“But you would see someon-” Heavy cut himself off. “The cloaker.”  
“The ladder wasn’t high enough for me to die from the fall unless I landed very badly but it was obviously enough for a bad break,” Medic said, gesturing to his leg. “Do you think..?”  
“Was attempt on your life!” Heavy roared. “I will kill the Spy!”

Demo was drinking the last bit of his stash after finding a few old pictures of him and Solly. He had to drown the pain, he couldn’t think about it. He got so drunk. He got so mad. Stupid fucking Spy and his stupid fucking book. Demo wouldn’t say that he ever could, but he was mad enough to kill a man that night. 

Alright, so logically it would be Medic next, Scout new that, but there was also the flaw that Spy had Medic under control at the moment. He had everything controlled on the surface. Everyone but him. Scout was in danger. He would be a perfectly logical kill- it would be him he was sure of it. He had to protect himself. His own Goddamn father was gonna get him killed. No. He wouldn’t let the bastard do it. But how..? He took a deep breath. Spy couldn’t kill him if he was already dead. 

Sniper had nothing left, essentially. There was not much he could do, even with the knowledge that he had. It was useless so long as Spy had control like he did. Sniper had to do something.. Had to take it away from him.


	5. Chapter 5

They went to get water, and again Spy was there. But this time he was laying on the ground, straws still gripped tight in his fist if only by rigor mortis. He couldn’t have been there the last time that they had gotten water, but at any point from then on he could have met his demise. 

“Well.. There’s definitely a murderer here now,” said Scout. 

“Oh fuck,” said Demo. “I didn’ kill him but it’s my fault. Heavy killed him, Sniper I told him about your thing with Spy’s plan to kill off competition and Medic an’ shite. ‘E bloody did it.”

“That’s not possible,” Medic argued. “Heavy’s been with me this whole time.” 

“I doubt that,” Sniper said.

“He has to be,” Medic said. “I can’t stand without him- I broke my leg weeks ago and it never healed right. Heavy couldn’t have done this.” 

“Well then who did?” 

“What’s it bloody matter?” Sniper asked. “Spook was riggin’ the straws and killin’ our friends. I’m glad e’s dead.”

“Glad enough to have murdered him? You’ve been against him this whole time,” Scout said.

“Uh I don’t think Medic’s a reliable sorce for where Heavy’s been either,” said Demo. “They’d be willing to lie for each other.”

“Okay, Demo, the joke about Medic and Heavy bein’ butt buddies is not helpful in tryin’ to find Spy’s murderer.”

“It’s not a joke,” Demo said. “They’re together.” 

“Wait seriously?”

“You’re fuckin’ retarded,” Sniper said. “Yes. We know this. Look I think we can count me out because Scout accused me of killing him.” 

“I’m kind of agreeing with Sniper on this one,” Demo said. 

“I agree with Sniper. What does it matter who killed little man? Is dead,” Heavy said. 

“What we gonna eat him now?”

“He’s already dead,” said Demo, coldly. 

“Not even gonna bother finding his killer?”

“This snow’s never going to let up,” Demo said. “We’ll all die soon enough, by our own hands or by murder or by starvation. There’s not a point.” 

“There’s gotta be.. After all this there’s gotta.” 

 

               Pyro hadn’t seen Spy’s corpse because Pyro hadn’t shown up. Pyro didn’t get to eat any of it either. They found Pyro quick enough that Medic figured if they cooked them well that it would still be safe to eat them. So they did. They had all gotten vastly too used to it all. Heavy hated that numbness, the cold calculating feel of it all. He walked into the medbay, and he heard a pained noise. He rushed in, hoping the Doktor wasn’t trying to stand on his own again. He pushed his way through the crowded door and found Medic trying to saw off his own leg.

“Doktor!” Heavy yelled, running to him and trying to take the saw from him. “What are you doing?!” Medic forcefully struggled to keep the saw to himself. 

“Nein! I have to,” hissed Medic. “My leg has become infected. It’s going to kill me if I don’t.” 

“Leetle Doktor please,” begged Heavy. 

“If I don’t do this I will die,” said Medic, close to tears. “It hurts so much but I have to. The infection will kill me and my corpse will make the others ill.. Please Heavy if it kills me anyways don’t eat me, I’ll make you sick.” 

“You cannot cut own leg off.”

“It has to come off,” Medic said. “It has to.” Heavy walked to his side. 

“If.. If I do this you will live?”

“Not certainly.. I may bleed out.. But if you don’t do it I will die. For certain.” Heavy took the saw. 

“This may save you?”

“Ja. This is the only way.” Heavy tried to calm himself as he took hold of Medic’s leg. The infection was just below his knee, and Heavy decided to follow the lines Medic had already made. He started to cut and Medic cried out in pain. Heavy couldn’t do it. “No, don’t stop, you’ve got to,” Medic said.

“I can’t hurt you!” 

“You have to.” Medic pulled off one of his gloves and bit down on it. Heavy closed his eyes and felt with the saw for the groove already cut there. He started to saw, holding Medic firmly to the table. He could feel Medic writhing under his hand, muscles spasming as his basic instincts for survival willed him to escape the saw. Heavy kept sawing until he felt the saw hit the table under him. He paused, gradually opening his eyes. His hands shook and he dropped the saw, hugging Medic to his chest. Medic was deathly pale, blood gushing from the wound. “Heavy, get some bandages.” 

“Am so sorry-”

“Get the bandages, quickly, Heavy,” Medic said, a slight sense of urgency in his weak voice. Heavy lowered him carefully and walked to the cabinets digging through them quickly, looking for bandages. He dug them out and carefully tried to wrap the wound. Medic shooed his hands and set to doing it himself, trying to stop the bleeding. “Oh Gott, this is going to be bad.”

“I won’t let them hurt you. We go by straws, not wound.”

“I hope we don’t have to go by anything at all.” 

“We can hope.”

 

               Sniper walked to the door and noticed something that filled him with joy and dred. There was water under the door, leaking in. The ice had  _ melted.  _ He pushed the door and managed to open it himself, the light of the outside world hurting his eyes. 

“Holy shit,” he said. He ran back in and began to search for the others. He hadn’t seen anyone much. Everything seemed random, and no one could tell how long a day was anymore, so he couldn’t tell how long it had been since he had seen them. “Boys! C’mere, everybody! The bloody snow melted!” Oh God, how could they explain what they’d done? The outside world wouldn’t understand it-  and they couldn’t explain it. They would have to find a way to hide it, keep it amongst themselves. How could they explain away where the others had went? He took a deep breath. It didn’t matter. They weren’t out of the woods yet. He ran to the others, finding Scout quickly. He had been bouncing his ball off the wall, he had for a long time when he was bored. He had grown weaker, of course, and just taken to rolling it back and forth. 

“What are you so excited about?”

“The bloody snow melted.”

“It  _ melted? _ ” Scout asked. He sprung up, not with half the enthusiasm he normally would but much more than he had lately. 

“We gotta get the others.” They ran through the halls like maniacs, screaming and yelling and banging on doors. Demo gradually emerged, somehow managing to get himself drunk off hand sanitizer. 

“Whot are you bloody screaming about?” asked Demo.

“The snow melted! We’re free!” Scout yelled. 

“Free? It’s gone?” asked Demo.

“Yeah!” Sniper yelled.

“We’re outta here!”

“Do you know where Medic and the big guy are?” asked Scout.

“Oh. Shite. They ‘aven’t come out of the medbay in days, maybe longer… I think somethin’ mighta gone wrong.”  They went to the medbay, as quickly as they could. Scout pounded on the door.

“Is everything alright? Guys, the snow melted! We’re outta here!” They heard a noise from inside, and then recognizably loud footsteps. Heavy opened the door, holding a frail Medic in his arms. Medic wasn’t moving, his eyes were closed, and he was incredibly pale. “Oh fuck he’s dead.”

“Is not dead!” snapped Heavy, holding Medic closer to his chest. “Is blood loss. Feel pulse,” he lowered Medic slightly, letting Scout, Sniper, and Demo simultaneously try to find one. 

“He’s not lyin’, I got it,” said Sniper. Scout and Demo moved their hands to were Sniper felt. They agreed there was something there, if only barely. 

“We can get outta here,” Scout said. 

“I don’t think Doktor is safe to move,” said Heavy. 

“Well you’re not a bleedin’ doctor.”

“Neither are you!”

“Guys, wait,” Scout said. “What if we go to the Blus base? Like I bet they still got medical stuff like the blood bags and shit. If we can get there we can get him blood bags and like put the blood back in him and  _ boom!  _ Problem solved.”

“That’s… odd.”

“What?”

“You had an idea that’s not stupid.”

“I am not stupid. I’m just have like the world’s worst gaydar. Remember what happened with Pauling?” 

               “That explains things.” 

 


	6. Chapter 6

  They worked their way across the still partially frozen battlefield, Scout, Sniper, and Demo all wearing thick winter coats. Heavy had instead wrapped his around Medic. They got to the Blus base and slipped in, surprisingly easily. It was quiet. Deathly quiet. They worked their way through, finding more and more corpses that were all similarly decayed. They had all died around the same time. They had chosen to die together instead of living apart. 

                  “ They… they wouldn't do it. They starved.” 

            “No time to care about them,” Heavy insisted. Heavy walked away with Medic, heading towards their medbay. 

              “Why are we like this.. God this.. this is my fault.. if I coulda just not gone along with it,” said Demo. 

             “Shut up,” said Scout. “You weren't the only one.” 

              “I’m the only one still alive,” said Demo. 

“Well not-”

“Oh yeah that’s a good one. Medic’s dead on his feet- none of us can fix this,” Demo said. “I mean tell me which of you can actually use a blood bag? Huh?”  They paused. “Honestly? We all know we’re here to make Heavy feel like we tried so he doesn’t break us over his knee.” Neither of the others knew how to respond. 

“Let’s.. I’m gonna go talk to the big guy,” Sniper said.

“I’m gonna look around here.” Scout tried to get away the others just for a little while. He searched around the base, and then he heard something. Footsteps. He crept around, searching through the base. Was it possible one of the Blus was still alive? He moved slowly through the halls until he saw someone familiar. “Miss Pauling!” Scout yelped, getting up and running towards her.

“Oh.. Scout,” she wasn’t excited to see him and he couldn’t figure out why. He didn’t look good, but it sounded more like disappointment than empathy.

“Miss.. Pauling? What’s wrong?”

“We thought that you all wouldn’t have the drive to.. To live. We figured both teams would just.. Starve. You all know a bit too much, you know?” she said, cleaning the silencer of her gun. 

“What are you sayin’?” Scout asked. “Wh-what are you gonna do about it?” 

“Look, Scout, the Administrator had to shut down the Red and Blu projects. You’re.. Kind of a liability. I was just sent to check on it. Are there others?”

“What if there are?”

“Scout? Lad where did ya bloody go?” asked Demo, loudly.

“Shit. Alright, it’s me and Demo.”

“How did you survive this long?” Scout’s face must have given it away. “Oh.. Oh God. Funny how different two sets of clones can be.. You never realized that did you? That you’re a clone. You and Blu Scout, both copies. Made for this experiment. Unfortunately, the Administrator thought that you all would die if we made some fake snow and trapped you for a while after turning off the respawns… But no, here you are.”

“Are… Are you gonna kill us Miss Pauling?” 

“What?” she said “No, of course,” she said. “Your team was always the best anyways. I mean that’s proved by the fact that you’re still alive, right?” she added, smiling. Scout smiled back and turned away, going to get Demo. Pauling would help them, of course, she had to. Pauling was smart- she could probably even fix Medic! It was perfect. 

“Oh and by the way we’ve also got-” and then he felt the bullet pierce his back as he fell over onto the floor. He tried to get up and realized the pain was too much and he couldn’t. “ _ Run!”  _ He yelled, hoping the others would hear him at least. 

 

Two gunshots. Sniper heard two of them. Demo had gone off to find Scout, when he figured he didn’t want to be in the room with Heavy when Medic died. Sniper had been tasked with figuring out how IV’s work and trying to hook one up. He knew he couldn’t do it. He didn’t know at all what to do when he felt Medic’s heart beat stop under his fingers. 

“Oh God.”

“What is it? What is wrong?” Sniper just gestured for Heavy to come to him and feel Medic’s neck. Heavy felt it and knew immediately. “No, no, please no!” he started to yell, wrapping his arms tight around Medic. 

“Lads we got company!” yelled Demo, barging in. 

“What? What’s goin’ on?” asked Sniper. 

“Holy fuck, it’s Pauling. She’s here and trying to murder us all and she just killed Scout and-”

“Scout is dead?”

“ _ Yeah  _ listen to what I’m trying to tell you-”

“Does she know we’re all here?”

“Well no, Scout just told her that it was me and ‘im because I was stupid and yelled out to ‘im.” 

“And you’ve yelled out to us… I ‘ave an idea.” 

“What is it?”

“When Pauling gets here you act like it was just you, Scout, Heavy, and Medic and that you were talkin’ to Heavy and Medic. Act like you don’t know she murdered Scout too. I can steal the other Sniper’s gun and I’ll kill her before she can kill the rest of us. Just stall her. I can and I will handle this.”

“Why do you want to kill her? We could escape.”

“She killed Scout in cold blood you stupid wanker.” 

“Fair enough..I just think this plan is risking.. A lot.” 

“If you can’t hold her off, get the hell out,” Sniper said. “I have your back- don’t forget that.” 

 

Demo stayed in the room, trying to comfort a grieving Heavy and trying to keep his one eye out for Pauling. He had no idea what to do about the first one, so he focused on the second. He watched for Pauling. Heavy still held Medic close, and occasionally Demo thought he heard him sob. He was suddenly unreasonably angry, and he wasn’t sure if it was the hand sanitizer or if he was just losing it. 

“Oh shut the hell up!” snapped Demo, staying quiet so Pauling wouldn’t hear it. “Sobbin’ about this like it’s the worst thing that’s happened- least we don’t have to eat him!” Heavy slowly stood, and carefully put the corpse on the table. He walked to Demo and swung, massive hand moving Demo’s jaw at least an inch. 

“You make fun of my pain!” yelled Heavy, definitely giving away where they were to Pauling. 

“Heavy, I’m sorry I don’t know what came over me I didn’-” he choked a bit on his words, blood in his mouth from were he had bitten his lip. “I didn’ mean ta-”

“You will learn a lesson ab-” They heard Pauling open the door.

“What’s going on?” she asked. 

“Stupid bastard mocks my pain!” snapped Heavy, throwing Demo across the room. 

“You two are still alive…” she looked to the table, noticing Medic. “Is.. Is it only you?” 

“Yeah,” Demo said. “Well and Scout,” he added, hoping it would force her to think more about what she had done. 

“Something’s happened to Scout,” she said. “I don’t know what but I think there might be more Blus in the base.” Lying to their faces. Demo had thought that she was a nice person. They again he also thought that they were, though mercenaries, somewhat good people. Fine. At least Sniper could get rid of her. 

“Let’s go look around, see if we can find them,” Demo said, pushing her out first so that she couldn’t betray and murder him like Scout. He turned, watching Heavy kiss Medic’s hand as he started to follow them. Then turned and saw Pauling get shot in the head. Demo closed his eye and tried, obviously in vain, to rub the image out of it. No. That was stuck there forever.

  
  


Demo retired. Or at least he called it retirement- it was retiring from murder and retiring from ever being stuck in a base like that again. He and his mother had to relocate and change names and fake deaths, but that was alright. Thanks to some of his old friends, he was still alive. So he had to make the best of that, he guessed. He had stopped drinking. That was a lie. He had slowed his drinking. He was a bartender now. He liked to pretend it was for something like helping the people who were alcoholics like he had been, but it was because the drinks were cheaper. He tried to relax, and live life, but whenever there was snow in the sky he found himself on edge. 

 

Heavy went home, of course. Back to his sisters and mother. They asked him about it, but he didn’t tell them much. Just that everything had fallen apart. It had been a long time, and he had never really told them about his relationship to Medic. His mother still liked to tease him, ask if he would ever bring anyone home to them, ask him if he had ever found someone to love.  He always said not yet, afraid to tell them the real answer. Not again. 

 

Sniper had become somewhat obsessed with putting everything together, for a time. A good part of this was a continuation of his sniping career, it gave him time to think. He figured out one of the little mysteries that he hadn’t gotten immediately along the way. Spy had purposefully pushed the ladder Medic had been standing on while cloaked, before he planned to kill Soldier, to convince people to eat Medic. At least that’s what Sniper figured. However, that left Sniper with a deeply uncomfortable feeling. What if that dead Spy had been nothing more than a dead ringer? What if Spy was still out there somewhere?  He was  paranoid, always. It was probably bad for his health. Regardless, Sniper continued his work, always wearily watching for Spy to uncloak. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since I left off on something of a cliff hanger I've been writing a sequel of sorts, if you like this one I can post that one too.


End file.
